Rallying - any co drivers or drivers on here?

[RacerMDR]

My mate fancies a go at co-driving. I've been circuit racing for years but figured I would mind having a go a rallying.

It looks straight forward enough for driver to get licence etc

Anyone have any links for where a co driver needs to train or get qualified?

Plus - can you do arrive and drive anywhere ? Or will we need to buy/build a car?

[mfmman]

MDR

Look here and posters will be happy to help, you will need to register though

http://www.britishrally.co.uk/forum/index.php

[magpies]

maybe best to find out your local MSA Motor Club that is involved in rallying and talk to them.

Or go to a rally close to where you live and talk to the officials

[Mikey G]

Used to do a bit of co-driving a number of years ago. As said best find your local car club and get involved. You will find them friendly and social and know when the next event takes place. Many clubs get involved with a lot of other clubs when it comes to running events and help out with marshalling and time controls whenever they can.

For a first event I would recommend a single venue stage rally to get used to the timings and stage navigation without you having to leave the venue and worry about road miles.
You also have road rallies and night events to really get the navigator working hard but can be daunting for the first timer just wanting to put competitive runs in a car.

[Mojocvh]

Good Luck! tried the co driver bit many [many, many] moons ago, I was competent at map reading, tulips, massaging drivers ego etc but just lacked that final 10% to make it tick overall, I was ok till it went "not as map" then just couldn't skip forwards enough to regain road on map at full chat road rally speeds.

Joint decision to go our separate ways, but did have a sad smile when replacement confidently put them through a 5 barred metal gate.

T'was a nice Mk1 mex that.

[velocemitch]

Had a few years experience road rallying in both seats, either Historic daylight or modern night events and I can thoroughly recommend it.

If you wanted to have a crack at rallying, it's the cheapest way to start. As has been mentioned before first thing is to find a club, the type of events in your area will depend on where you live as the nature of the events is different in say Wales to those in Scotland.

Best bet is to find a club which does 12 car rallies, or perhaps navigational scatters, both of those would let you learn the ropes on map reading and keeping your tea/supper down in a fast moving car at night. Once you get more confident you can move into the more serious half nighters or all night rallies, or perhaps if you are in to old cars try daylight Historics they tend to be more sociable though no less competitive.

There's always demand for half decent navigator and good ones are a prized commodity.

[thepawbroon]

RacerMDR said:

My mate fancies a go at co-driving. I've been circuit racing for years but figured I would mind having a go a rallying.

It looks straight forward enough for driver to get licence etc

Anyone have any links for where a co driver needs to train or get qualified?

Plus - can you do arrive and drive anywhere ? Or will we need to buy/build a car?

MDR,

It can be straight forward, sounds like you've checked it out but there is a lot of info here too:

http://www.gomotorsport.net/en-GB/godrive/rallying...
and here
http://www.msauk.org/site/cms/contentviewarticle.a...

Essentially there are two types of rallying:

Road / 12-Car / Night / Scatter / 20-20 type rallies - where you can use a standard road car and generally don't need a licence.

Special Stage rallies - where you need a licence and a specially-prepapred car. There are different licence requirements for drivers and co-drivers, so it might be a good idea to talk to The MSA to see what is required. To Co-Drive, you just need to apply for a licence (no training required).

As I see you are in Surrey, maybe check out the local clubs:

Sutton & Cheam Motor Club www.scmc.co.uk
Farnborough & District Motor Club www.fdmc.org.uk

There are some companies that run "arrive-and-drive" but they are often very expensive and require huge deposits for insurance excess. It may be cheaper to buy a car (e.g. 205 GTi for £2500 or so).

However here a a few ideas:

http://www.eurorallye.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath...

http://hamblymotorsport.website.orange.co.uk/rally...

http://www.langworth-motorsport.com/index.php?act=...

http://www.johnpyemotors.com/motorsport/rally-cars...

Finally, as suggested above - go check out rallies in the area. Next local one is The Tempest Rally - 5th November around Aldershot, but there are lots around if you are willing to travel a wee bit. One of the best is at the end of the month is Wales:

http://www.epyntmc.co.uk/news.php

Drop me a PM if you'd like more info, cheers

Duncan